The Beach Boys' founder and primary songwriter Brian Wilson has died. He was 82.
Wilson's family announced the news on social media, writing on the musician's official Instagram account, "We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved father Brian Wilson has passed away. We are at a loss for words right now."
"Please respect our privacy at this time as our family is grieving," they continued. "We realize that we are sharing our grief with the world."
Last May, Wilson was placed under conservatorship — run by his longtime publicist Jean Sievers and business manager LeeAnn Hard — after his family filed on his behalf that February. In the petition, they stated that the singer-songwriter was living with a "major neurocognitive disorder" akin to dementia, and was "unable to properly provide for his own personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter." (Wilson had been under the care of his wife, Melinda Kay Ledbetter Wilson, until her death in January 2024.)
Wilson is renowned for revolutionizing pop composition through his intricately harmonized "teenage symphonies to God." Born in Inglewood, CA, on June 20, 1942, he was the eldest of Audree Neva and Murry Wilson's three boys. The family moved to Hawthorne with a two-year-old Wilson — a child prodigy who experienced an epiphany when he heard George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" as a toddler.
In 1961, he co-founded the Beach Boys with brothers Dennis and Carl, their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine. Managed by Murry, they drew on a combination of older pop vocal groups, contemporary rock and roll, and R&B, often infusing elements of classical music or jazz into their compositions at Brian's behest; he signed with Capitol Records in 1962, becoming the first pop musician credited with writing, arranging, producing and performing his own material.
The band earned their first No. 1 hit nationally with "Surfin' U.S.A." in 1963, beginning a streak of Top 10 singles and championing the reflection of a Southern Californian youth culture (surfing, romance, cars, etc.) that would become known as the "California sound." However, the Beach Boys moved on from beachy themes starting in 1965 with The Beach Boys Today!, instead opting for more personal lyrics.
1966's Pet Sounds and its single "Good Vibrations" further raised their profile, and are often listed among some of the most influential works in popular music history. After deciding to scrap 1967's Smile, Wilson would begin to gradually surrender control of the group to his bandmates, especially as he descended into a period of mental health decline, struggling with reclusion, overeating and substance abuse.
These lifelong mental health struggles led him to enter into a controversial business and creative partnership with psychologist Eugene Landy, who co-wrote and co-produced Wilson's first two solo projects, 1988's Brian Wilson and the unreleased 1990 collection Sweet Insanity. (Landy also allegedly ghostwrote portions of Wilson's first memoir, 1991's Wouldn't It Be Nice: My Own Story.) Landy's license was revoked by the state in 1989 due to accusations of patient misconduct and ethical violations, and Wilson finally disassociated with him at Ledbetter's order.
Wilson toured regularly as a solo artist between 1991 and 2022, having been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Beach Boys in 1988 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000, as well as being named a BMI Icon in 2004 and receiving the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007. Wilson is survived by his and Ledbetter's five adopted children (Daria Rose, Delanie Rae, Dakota Rose, Dylan Tristan and Dash Tristan), and his two daughters — Carnie and Wendy Wilson, of Wilson Phillips — from his previous marriage to Marilyn Rovell.